24th Circuit benefits from Putney’s chairmanship

A spreadsheet prepared for House and Senate budget conferees shows how they went about deciding which judicial vacancies to fill.

The table compares the caseload of judges in circuits and districts with the average caseload per judge. With one exception, only those with a caseload 25 percent higher than the state average got a judgeship.

The exception: the 24th Circuit, which includes Lynchburg and the counties of Amherst, Bedford, Campbell and Nelson.

The significance of the 24th Circuit? Much of it is in the district of Del. Lacey Putney, the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, which initially proposed that the Legislature stand by its decision last year not to fill any judicial vacancies that occur before July 1, 2012.